The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Tamar Fuchsia.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new Impatiens cultivars with uniform plant habit and attractive flower and foliage colors.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross made by the Inventor in 1994 of the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Grenada, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,343, as the male, or pollen parent, with the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Aruba, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,456, as the female, or seed parent. The cultivar Tamar Fuchsia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Maasland, The Netherland in 1995.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Maasland, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Tamar Fuchsiaxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Tamar Fuchsiaxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Large red purple-colored flowers.
2. Freely flowering habit with flowers positioned above or beyond the foliage.
3. Upright, somewhat outwardly spreading, rounded, uniform and compact plant habit.
4. Freely branching growth habit.
5. Very dark green leaves.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands, plants of the new Impatiens differ primarily from plants of the male parent, the cultivar Grenada, in flower color as flower color of plants of the cultivar Grenada is salmon pink.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands, plants of the new Impatiens differ from plants of the female parent, the cultivar Aruba, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens are more compact than plants of the cultivar Aruba.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens have larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Aruba.
3. Flower color of plants of the new Impatiens is more red, or less blue, than flower color of plants of the cultivar Aruba.